It has become common practice in the field of electronics to integrate a plurality of electronic circuit boards into one mechanical housing. There are many benefits and advantages gained by integrating a plurality of electronic circuit boards into one housing. For instance, packaging space is increased because fewer modules are needed, the overall weight of the vehicle is reduced, wiring harnesses and connectors are reduced, further reducing costs.
One significant problem associated with integrating the plurality of electronic circuit boards into one housing is the damage that thermal energy (heat) can cause within the housing. Prior art solutions have been to increase the surface area of the housing by the arrangements of heat dissipation fins on the surface of the housing. Generally, heat is dissipated primarily through the operation of heat convection as air moves across and through the heat dissipation fins. However, numerous connectors and components remain subjected to highly heated locations that affect performance, shorten life and reliability of the circuit boards.
Another solution to the thermal energy build-up within the multi-board housing was to add a thermally conductive material between the inside surfaces of the housing arid the top surfaces of the electronic circuit boards which are adjacent the inside surfaces of the housing. Although, this additional conduction path would in some cases act to dissipate some additional thermal energy, this solution has been observed to not provide sufficient heat dissipation for more complex and highly integrated electronic assemblies.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved system and method for dissipating thermal energy created by a super integrated multiple electronic circuit board assembly. The new and improved system and method for dissipating heat must provide sufficient heat dissipation regardless of the complexity and increased integration of the multiple electronic circuit board assembly.